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New images captured by Ball Aerospace instruments released by NASA

By Charlie Brennan, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
03/21/2013 11:03:17 AM MDT

Updated:
03/21/2013 08:48:06 PM MDT

The area around Boulder is shown here in a true color image collected by NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission, which features instruments built by Boulder's Ball Aerospace, on March 18, 2013. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) (NASA)

The first images from the latest in NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission, made possible through instrumentation built in Boulder by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., were released Thursday.

The multispectral images, recorded at 11:40 a.m. Monday, show the convergence of the Great Plains with the Front Ranges of Colorado and Wyoming. The natural-color image shows the green forests of the mountains descending to the plains.

Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Denver and Cheyenne, Wyo., are captured in the images, while popcorn clouds are seen over the plains, with more complete cloud cover obscuring the mountains.

"Release of the first image from LDCM is a great step toward ensuring these improved instruments provide the nation with the most up-to-date understanding of changes taking place across the planet," said Robert D. Strain, Ball Aerospace chief operating officer and incoming president, in a prepared statement.

"We are very excited about this first collection of simultaneous imagery," Jim Irons, LDCM project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., stated in a news release. "These images confirm we have two healthy, functioning sensors that survived the rigors of launch and insertion into Earth orbit."

The Landsat series has facilitated key management information on the best use of land resources, including food, forests and water, and as one example, and has assisted forest managers in deciding the best responses and use of resources in answering the Rocky Mountain region's pine beetle infestation.

The current mission, the eighth in the Landsat satellite series, launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force base on Feb. 11. The mission is providing the longest continuous data record of the Earth's surface, as seen from space, representing 40 years' worth of observations.

The area around Fort Collins is shown here in a true color image collected by NASA's Landsat Data Continuity Mission, which features instruments built by Boulder's Ball Aerospace, on March 18, 2013. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE) (NASA)

It is expected to return 400 images each day, as compared to 250 per day by its immediate predecessor.

The LDCM since its launch last month has been going through on-orbit testing. The mission operations team has finished reviewing all the major spacecraft and instrument subsystems, and performed multiple spacecraft attitude maneuvers to verify the ability to accurately point the instruments.

Ball Aerospace built two instruments on board NASA's current Landsat mission, which capture images of the Earth on a continuous 16-day cycle and provide global coverage each season of the year.

The Landsat, at what is considered a fairly low orbit 438 miles (705 kilometers) above the Earth, records images of the Earth in strips about 115 miles wide. Those are transmitted back as frequently as conditions allow to the Landsat Data Archive at the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Center in Sioux Falls, S.D. There, it is distributed for free.

It takes 16 days to record images of the whole planet in 15-meter panchromatic and 30-meter spatial resolutions, shifting to the west, strip by strip, before the cycle resumes again.

This Landsat mission is the first for which Ball has built and provided the imaging instrumentation. One is the Operational Land Imager, which features two additional imaging bands that its predecessors did not have.

A cirrus band now allows scientists to see when high cirrus clouds are obscuring the land beneath them. The OLI instrument also has a water band, giving the ability to see water quality in lakes and shallow coastal waters.

Also on the Landsat mission is the Ball-provided Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) Cryocooler, which chills the TIRS instrument's infrared photo detectors.

"The employees at Ball Aerospace who worked the OLI program have put their heart and soul into this instrument, and it shows in the quality of these first images released by NASA and USGS," said Leanne Presley, Ball Aerospace program manager for the OLI instrument.

"There is still more work to be done to complete the on-orbit checkout and calibration, so the images are only going to get better. We are thrilled that we are continuing the Landsat legacy with an instrument that can capture in detail the changes to the land that affect both humanity and the planet."

The Landsat team in the next few weeks will calibrate all the instruments and verify that they meet performance specifications.

Following the checkout and commissioning phase, NASA will surrender control of the satellite to USGS, which will operate it for the duration of its scheduled five-year mission. It will be renamed Landsat 8.

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